EA announces Battlefield Play4Free, a new free-to-play multiplayer shooter to launch in the spring as the new Battlefield game announcement they teased earlier this week. They are currently accepting applications to participate in closed beta testing of the game, which they say will offer 32-player online warfare and the chance to experience the career of a professional soldier. There's also a story on MCV quoting EA's Ben Cousins saying this has a chance to "disrupt" the triple-A console market: "At what point do the hardcore gamers switch over from spending $60 a month on console games to spending that much a month on microtransactions for an online title?" Cousins asked the audience at the London Games Conference. "There's an opportunity in the next two to five years to cause a significant disruption to the traditional triple-A console market. I want someone considering buying a game on a Microsoft console to think 'But these games are free over here'." This teaser trailer offers a glimpse at the game, and here's a bit from its announcement:

Combining the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 with the familiar classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad CompanyTM 2, players have access to 16 vehicles including the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, its nemesis the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the massive Russian T-90 main battle tank, and the hard to catch LSV light strike vehicle. Players progress through the game to learn new combat skills, and earn in-game currency to spend on a massive array of devastating weapons and equipment.

ColoradoHoudini wrote on Nov 5, 2010, 21:22:slightly related: Whatever the next gen consoles are.. they need to be robust enough to support 256 players..and huge expansive environments in cutting edge games.

MAG does this pretty well.

I disagree....you never even see 1/6th of that total of people...it is all compartmentalized....makes you think you are in a huge war when you aren't.

Surf wrote on Nov 6, 2010, 13:15:The whole gaming industry, spearheaded by EA, is getting fragmented with the obsession of getting money out of everyone. Jesus fucking christ I want the old days back where we bought games and played games, period.

Fuck microtransactions!

Vote with your wallet, dont ever buy them; and support the games/companies that don't do it.

The whole gaming industry, spearheaded by EA, is getting fragmented with the obsession of getting money out of everyone. Jesus fucking christ I want the old days back where we bought games and played games, period.

Want to drive that tank, $5.Want to fly that helo, $7.50.Flying the Jet, only $10.

You have to have your license.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae..."------------------------------------------------

ColoradoHoudini wrote on Nov 5, 2010, 21:22:slightly related: Whatever the next gen consoles are.. they need to be robust enough to support 256 players..and huge expansive environments in cutting edge games.

ColoradoHoudini wrote on Nov 5, 2010, 21:22:slightly related: Whatever the next gen consoles are.. they need to be robust enough to support 256 players..and huge expansive environments in cutting edge games.

Continually seeing 32 players as the normal for cross-platform (I know this isnt one) games is fucking outright annoying. I wish I had all the devs from the FPS world that are doing this bullshit right in front of me so I could change their minds with a tire iron. "thanks for getting us rich and our name in lights PC world, now fuck you guys!"

Surely there's a PC FPS dev out there that still cares and makes good games.. right?

At some point you run into bandwidth limitations for the servers. Ideally you want people with slightly above average internet connections to be able to host a decent game (although they might not be able to host the maximum players the game could support). Plus you run into graphical limitations if the game is going to be cutting edge.

It would be nice to have something more than 32 people though. Especially since its previously been shown that 64 is possible!

slightly related: Whatever the next gen consoles are.. they need to be robust enough to support 256 players..and huge expansive environments in cutting edge games.

Continually seeing 32 players as the normal for cross-platform (I know this isnt one) games is fucking outright annoying. I wish I had all the devs from the FPS world that are doing this bullshit right in front of me so I could change their minds with a tire iron. "thanks for getting us rich and our name in lights PC world, now fuck you guys!"

Surely there's a PC FPS dev out there that still cares and makes good games.. right?

Halo wrote on Nov 5, 2010, 14:38:This isn't about greed it's about business.

The two are far from mutually exclusive. Most businesses turning a reasonable profit are actually doing so by adding utility in some way. Greedy business wants to turn as much profit as possible by any means.

Anyhow, microtransactions are very badly suited to MP gaming. Fancy a game of chess where players can buy extra pawns, and every month new upgraded pieces are introduced to keep sales coming in? Or how about a new map every couple of months, that hardly any servers host because they keep losing half their players when it loads in the rotation?

_________________________________________________"Money doesn't exist in the 24th century, the acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity." - Jean-Luc Picard

PHJF wrote on Nov 5, 2010, 13:07:I played arcade games very rarely. I probably spent less then 15 bucks on the arcades.

Depending on your age... 15 bucks a month at the arcade *IS* the same as 60 bucks a month on console games now...

And to Prez who says "After multiple failures EA just refuses to give up on this stupid business model." Um... the reason they refuse to give up is cuz it *WORKS*... F2P is *NOT* a failed business model by any definition I've ever heard of.